1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to balloon closure devices and particularly to multi-purpose balloon closure devices for sealing, capturing, attaching and making decorative arrangements from balloons.
2. Prior Art
The prior art has recognized that the stems of inflated balloons are difficult to manipulate in order to tie them into knots or to tie string or some other line around them to seal them in order to prevent the leakage of lighter than air gas or air. As a result, there may be significant leakage of gas during the process of tying and thereafter. Conversely, the more effectively the knot is tied to prevent leakage, the less likelihood there is that the knot can be reopened, relegating the balloon to one time use, and making the balloon difficult to dispose of since it can only be deflated by bursting it or by allowing the gas to gradually seep out.
To overcome these difficulties, there have been developed balloon closure devices, clips and clamps, but such devices are unreliable and examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,201,045; 3,094,807; 4,416,038; 3,612,465; 3,713,622; and 4,390,103.
In addition to the difficulties described above, the adherence of an inflated balloon to surfaces presents a particular problem. In the case of balloons which are inflated with a lighter than air gas, traditionally tape or some other adhesive means has been provided directly on the balloon and used to fasten it to walls, ceilings, streamers and other surfaces for decorative purposes. Balloons inflated with lighter than air gases have been similarly fastened to surfaces for decorative purposes, or allowed to float to ceilings, or tied by string or other capturing devices to furniture or other stationary objects.
Still further, the attachment of balloons to hold them captive for decorative purposes or for transport has been generally by means of string, line or some other retainer, attached on one end to a tubular stem of an inflated balloon and held by hand or attached in some makeshift manner to furniture or some other surface or object of the room. This solution has presented somewhat of a problem because it has required the tying of a knot on the stem of the inflated balloon which is time consuming and cumbersome. However, if the balloon is held captive by tying it to another surface, yet another time consuming and cumbersome tying operation is required. Furthermore, the line which holds the inflated balloon captive may be hand held and, as such, is hard to control and retain, especially by children.
Additionally, the placement of balloons in decorative or divergent arrangements of various sizes such as hand held bouquets, table place settings and room size configurations has heretofore represented additional problems. Traditionally, balloon users have sealed the stems of balloons by tying them by hand and, in turn, tying individual balloons together and then, further, tying these clusters onto a stationary object, arm of a person, string, line or other means to retain the balloons and form them into decorative shapes. Complex or large decorative devices have traditionally only been created and installed by balloon professionals because of the attendant problems associated therewith. In addition to the problems related to tying the balloons, the range of decorations has been limited by the ability to manipulate balloons. As a result, the ability to create large and/or complex decorations using balloons has been generally the realm of a professional and the balloon user who does not have access to lighter than air gas is particularly limited since most balloon related decorations utilize lighter than air gas to float the balloons which provides the levitation frequently to be used to help create one of these decorative designs. Therefore, the ability to fashion useful decorative designs utilizing non-floating balloons has heretofore been very limited, but would be of great value to the casual balloon user who may not have access to lighter than air gas and who would, otherwise, be deprived of the opportunities to create complex balloon-related decorations.